92: Chapter 92 On the way east
Lu Mingyuan stared at the bai ze map on the page for a long time.
The Bai Ze in the drawing was exactly the same as the one in his dream—dragon head, goat horns, lion body, and tiger back. Its entire body was snow-white, and its eyes were clear. But at this moment, there was something more in those clear eyes.
It was pain.
It was fear.
It was a plea for help.
Zhang Qingyuan leaned in and looked at the page.
"Master, this drawing... is it alive?"
Lu Mingyuan did not answer. He extended a finger and gently touched the Bai Ze in the drawing.
As soon as his fingertip touched the surface of the paper, an icy sensation instantly surged into his heart.
Immediately after, he "saw" a scene—
Dark seawater, a bottomless Abyss. Countless broken stone pillars stood tall like a sunken palace. In the center of the palace was a mass of black mist, within which countless eyes were vaguely visible—hollow, malicious, and hungry.
Bai Ze was trapped by that mass of black mist, its four hooves mired in the bog-like darkness, sinking deeper the more it struggled. It raised its head and looked in a certain direction, its eyes filled with despair.
Then, it saw something.
It was light.
It was the direction of those eyes—exactly the direction where Lu Mingyuan was.
The scene vanished.
Lu Mingyuan withdrew his finger. The Bai Ze on the page returned to its original state, its eyes no longer pleading for help, just quietly looking at him like an ordinary drawing.
But he knew it was no ordinary drawing.
It was the original manuscript. The original manuscript of the classic of mountains and seas. The original manuscript that Bai Ze had personally handed to him.
"Master?" Zhang Qingyuan called out softly.
Lu Mingyuan closed the book and tucked it into his robes.
"Something happened to Bai Ze."
Zhang Qingyuan was startled.
"Bai Ze? The Divine Beast you mentioned? The one that entered your dream to give you the scripture?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Where is it?"
"The East Sea. Deep beneath the ocean floor."
Zhang Qingyuan looked toward the east, then back toward the already-discolored The Rift in the Northwest.
"But Master, over at The Rift—"
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He knew what Zhang Qingyuan wanted to say. With the abnormal movements of The Rift and the intensifying Devilish Qi, it was exactly when he was needed. To leave the Northwest at this time to save someone in the East Sea—
No, to save a Divine Beast.
Was it worth it?
He remembered the words of the Queen Mother of the West—"Remember those who died, and the things that were never obtained."
Bai Ze was not dead.
But it was trapped. Trapped in darkness, trapped in despair, trapped in that unknown mass of black mist.
It was calling for help.
Calling to him for help.
If he didn't go—
He thought of the living beings who died in the Great Calamity. When they died, did anyone hear their pleas for help? Did anyone want to save them?
Probably.
But those people were all dead too.
Lu Mingyuan raised his head and looked at the eastern sky.
That extremely faint light had already disappeared. But he knew it wasn't a hallucination.
"To the East Sea," he said.
Zhang Qingyuan looked at him and didn't ask why.
"Okay."
The two turned around, no longer heading Northwest, but instead veering toward the east.
From the foot of Kunlun Mountain to the Shores of the East Sea, if one traveled in a straight line, they would have to cross more than half of the Middle Lands.
But Lu Mingyuan did not take a straight path.
He bypassed all towns and all places where Cultivators gathered, specifically choosing to travel through wild mountains and desolate ridges.
It wasn't that he didn't want to see people; he didn't dare to.
Because he knew that as soon as he stepped into a crowd, people would ask about The Rift, speak of the anomalies in the Northwest, and beg him to help.
And he could not help.
He had to go to the East Sea.
This thought made him feel a faint sense of unease.
"Master," Zhang Qingyuan followed behind him. After walking for half a day, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Why are we avoiding people?"
Lu Mingyuan did not look back.
"Because I don't want to explain."
"Explain what?"
"Explain why I'm not going to the Northwest and am going to the East Sea instead."
Zhang Qingyuan was silent for a while.
"Then... why aren't we going to the Northwest and are going to the East Sea instead?"
Lu Mingyuan stopped in his tracks.
He turned back to look at Zhang Qingyuan and saw that the young face held no doubt, only confusion.
Genuine confusion.
He also wanted to know the answer.
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"Because someone—a Divine Beast—is calling for help."
"But over at The Rift, aren't there many people calling for help too?" Zhang Qingyuan said. "The villages near The Rift, the people being corrupted by Devilish Qi, the Loose Cultivators who could lose their lives at any moment—"
He didn't continue.
Because he saw Lu Mingyuan's expression change.
It wasn't anger; it was... sadness.
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a long time.
Then, he said softly:
"I know."
Zhang Qingyuan looked at him and suddenly felt a bit of regret for saying those words.
"Master, I didn't mean—"
Lu Mingyuan waved his hand.
"You're right. At The Rift, there are indeed many people calling for help. I should go there."
He paused.
"But on Bai Ze's side, only it is calling for help."
He looked at Zhang Qingyuan.
"Do you understand what I mean?"
Zhang Qingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he slowly nodded.
"I understand. Over there, there are many people, but there will always be someone to save them. Over here, there is only it. If Master doesn't go, no one will."
Lu Mingyuan looked at him, a touch of gratification in his eyes.
"Yes."
He turned around and continued walking forward.
"Let's go. The faster we rescue Bai Ze, the faster we can return to the Northwest."
Zhang Qingyuan caught up. After walking a few steps, he suddenly asked again:
"Master, is Bai Ze... very important?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"It gave me the original manuscript of the classic of mountains and seas. Without that book, I wouldn't be who I am today."
He looked at the road ahead.
"Moreover, it is Bai Ze. It is the Bai Ze that understands the nature of all things, the Bai Ze that has watched the Human Race grow from the wilderness to this day, the Divine Beast recorded in countless ancient texts."
"It shouldn't die in a place like that."
They walked for another day and night.
On the evening of the second day, they stopped to rest on a desolate mountain.
Zhang Qingyuan went to gather firewood to start a fire. Lu Mingyuan sat on a large rock, took out the classic of mountains and seas, and turned to the page with Bai Ze once more.
The eyes of the Bai Ze in the drawing had changed again.
This time, it wasn't a plea for help.
It was... weakness.
Those eyes were half-closed, the gaze unfocused, like the final moment of clarity for a dying person.
Lu Mingyuan stared at the drawing, a strong sense of urgency surging in his heart.
"Faster," he whispered. "Even faster."
Zhang Qingyuan returned with the firewood. Seeing his expression, he didn't speak and silently started the fire.
The firelight illuminated the night.
Lu Mingyuan put away the book and looked toward the eastern sky.
From here, a hint of deep blue could be vaguely seen on the horizon—the color of the sea.
But the sea was in the east, very far away.
How much further?
He didn't know.
He only knew that for every step he took, Bai Ze would hold on for another moment.
But if they walked too slowly, Bai Ze might not last until he arrived.
"Master," Zhang Qingyuan suddenly spoke up, "can I ask you something?"
Lu Mingyuan looked at him.
"Ask."
Zhang Qingyuan thought for a moment.
"What is your relationship with Bai Ze?"
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
Relationship?
He and Bai Ze had met once.
No, they hadn't actually met. They had only met in a dream.
That was five years ago. That night, he was trapped in a deserted Daoist temple and dreamed of Bai Ze entering his dream to give him the original manuscript of the classic of mountains and seas. When he woke up, the book was in his arms.
Since then, he had never seen Bai Ze again.
But he knew that the Divine Beast had been watching him from somewhere, watching him step by step until today.
"It gave me the scripture," he said. "Without it, I wouldn't be who I am today."
Zhang Qingyuan nodded.
"So it's a benefactor?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"More than just a benefactor."
He looked at the firelight.
"It is... the Origin of the Bond."
Zhang Qingyuan didn't understand.
"The Origin of the Bond?"
Lu Mingyuan did not explain.
But he knew clearly in his heart—
If Bai Ze hadn't entered his dream that night, he wouldn't have obtained the classic of mountains and seas. Without the classic of mountains and seas, he wouldn't have stepped onto the path of cultivation. Without stepping onto the path of cultivation, he wouldn't have met Xuanweizi, wouldn't have gone to the Three Mountains of Daoism, wouldn't have gone to the Three Temples of Buddhism, wouldn't have gone to the Three Academies of Confucianism, wouldn't have gone to the Three Sects of Martial Arts, and wouldn't have reached where he was today.
Bai Ze was the beginning of everything.
If it died—
He didn't dare think further.
In the middle of the night, Lu Mingyuan suddenly opened his eyes.
He heard something.
A very faint sound, coming from a distance.
He stood up, walked to the edge of the cliff, and looked toward the east.
Under the moonlight, that patch of deep blue was already close.
That was the sea.
But on the sea, something was moving.
It wasn't waves, nor schools of fish; it was... black mist.
A massive expanse of black mist surged from the sea surface, obscuring the moonlight, the starlight, and everything between the sea and the sky.
The shape of the black mist was like a giant hand.
The five fingers of the hand were spread out, reaching down toward the ocean floor.
Lu Mingyuan stared at the hand formed from black mist, a strong sense of unease surging in his heart.
That was no ordinary mist.
That was Devilish Qi.
And it was the thickest kind of Devilish Qi, like the kind he had seen in the depths of The Rift.
He reached into his robes, took out the classic of mountains and seas, and turned to the page with Bai Ze.
The eyes of the Bai Ze in the drawing were now completely closed.
No, not closed.
They were... gone.
On that page, only a snow-white body remained, with no eyes, no expression, nothing at all.
Lu Mingyuan's heart sank abruptly.
"Zhang Qingyuan."
Zhang Qingyuan woke up with a start.
"Master?"
Lu Mingyuan did not look back.
"We must reach the seaside before dawn."
Zhang Qingyuan scrambled up, rubbed his eyes, and looked at the sea shrouded in black mist to the east.
"Master, what is that?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment.
"It's the thing that has come to kill Bai Ze."
He leaped down from the cliff, treading on the treetops as he sped toward the east.
Zhang Qingyuan carried his heart lamp and desperately followed.
Behind them, the night had not yet ended.
Before them, the black mist was overwhelming.
Lu Mingyuan reached the seaside before dawn.
But he did not see the sea.
What he saw was—
A wall.
A wall formed of black mist, stretching from the sea surface to the sky, from the left to the right, boundless and without beginning or end.
The wall was moving.
As if alive, it was slowly shrinking inward.
In the center of the wall, there was a gap.
Within the gap, a speck of white could be vaguely seen.
That speck of white was very, very small, like a grain of rice, a teardrop, or a candle flame about to go out in the boundless darkness.
But Lu Mingyuan saw it.
He saw that speck of white trembling and struggling, desperately trying to maintain its last sliver of consciousness.
It knew someone had come.
It was waiting.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking at the gap and the speck of white.
Then, he stepped forward.
"Master—" Zhang Qingyuan shouted from behind.
Lu Mingyuan did not look back.
He walked into the wall.
Walked into the black mist.
Walked into the Abyss where Bai Ze was waiting.